How it Used to be
by Im-On-A-Roll
Summary: This is a short story about Don Lino and Lenny's lives before Lino discovers Lenny is a vegetarian. Enjoy, and please respond!


Hi! Okay I'm gonna be totally honest, this is my first fanfic ever, I'm a little nervous, and I'm only sixteen, so all I ask of all of you is that you don't think too bad of this story if it's bad……. So thanx to all of you!

Alright, this is a short story that's mostly about Don Lino and Lenny's relationship as father and son. It takes place during the part of the movie when they're both stuck in the Whale Wash's equipment, and Lino is remembering how well they used to get a long. Now this might sound weird but ten years before Lenny met Oscar, he and Lino were best friends. Lenny looked up to Lino as a father and Lino loved his youngest son more than anything (except for his wife and Frankie). But all that is going to change when Lino finds out that his younger son is a vegetarian. Oooooooooh, what's going to happen now? You'll find out very shortly.

"**How it Used to Be"**

_(Present)_

Don Lino and his nineteen-year-old son Lenny were both trapped in Sykes's whale wash's equipment because of Oscar (Lenny was trapped by accident). Lino was looking down sadly into his son's dark green eyes; he was beginning to have a major change of heart. Ever since Lenny was nine years old, Lino had not been much of a father to him.

You see, Lenny was "different" from his father and every other shark on their reef; he ate kelp and befriended fish. Because of this, for the past ten years Lino had been nothing but a jerk to him when they could have been best friends. Oscar, who was Lenny's best friend even though he was a fish, had just now told Lino what a huge mistake he had made, and Lino was starting to understand. As he looked down at his son's smiling face, he began to remember how it used to be when Lenny was a little kid.

_(Ten years ago)_

It was ten 'o clock p.m. on a dark, stormy night. Nine-year-old Lenny was sitting silently in his bed, but couldn't get any sleep for two reasons, firstly because his dad was yet to come and tuck him in, secondly because of the terrible storm above the ocean's surface. Lightning was flashing every five seconds, the wind was blowing so hard that it could probably start a tornado, and the surface of the water looked as if it was about to cause a typhoon. Lenny hid himself under his bedspread so he would feel more protected, but a voice coming from the direction of his doorway made him come out.

"Lenny?"

At first he was startled by the voice, but when he saw that it was Lino, he felt a little more relaxed.

"Oh, Dad it's you," Lenny said with his heart beating like a drum, "You scared me."

Lino chuckled as he slowly approached him.

"Sorry 'bout that Little Guy, I didn't see you underneath your bedspread. Why were you hiding under there anyway?"

Lenny wasn't sure how to tell Lino that he was afraid of a "little" storm, but he just couldn't keep a secret from his dad.

"Because… I'm … I'm scared of the storm!" Lenny said, half expecting Lino to roll his eyes and sigh. But instead, he was just giving his son a friendly smile, and sat down on his bed.

"Aww, that's okay, Lenny," Lino said as he put his fin on Lenny's back. "But you don't need to be scared, that storm's worse for land creatures than it is for us." Lenny realized that he was right, but a sudden flash of lightning increased his fear and he buried his face in the older shark's chest.

Lino chuckled, "But if it makes ya feel better, why don't I stay in here with you tonight?"

Lenny looked up at him, "You mean it?" he asked hopefully.

Lino nodded. Lenny happily moved over a little bit to make room and Lino laid down in the bed. The storm outside was as bad as ever, but Lenny now felt more safe as he laid his head down on Lino's shoulder.

"I love you, Dad."

Lino embraced his son and kissed him on his head, "I love you, too, Son."

And in just a few seconds, Lenny was fast asleep.

X--X

_(Still ten years ago)_

It was barley two weeks after the terrible storm, but this day looked as if the storm had never happened. It was a peaceful day at the sharks' sunken ocean liner. The sun was shining brightly above the surface, the sea was calm, and everyone was having a quiet, relaxing day. Well, almost everyone.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Lenny was being pinned to the floor of Don Lino's office by Frankie, his fourteen-year-old brother who was literally twice his size and very much a bully.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT YA LITLLE GUPPY?"

Lenny was so sick of Frankie always accusing him of stealing his stuff. "I-I didn't do anything with your precious boxing glove, now get off of me!"

Frankie was really starting to have enough. "I'll put this as easy as I can, tell me what you did with my lucky boxing glove, OR I'M GONNA…"

Suddenly the door opened, and there in the doorway were Lino and his wife, Kathleen. Neither of them looked pleased to see their older son pinning their younger son to the floor.

"Frankie," Lino said severely "Get off of your brother right now!" Frankie obeyed and Lenny got up.

"What is going on here?" Kathleen demanded. Frankie had an I-wasn't-doing-anything-bad look on his face and opened his mouth to speak.

"I want the truth, Frankie!"

He immediately stopped smiling and said "This little freak is tryin' to deny that he stole one of my lucky boxing gloves! How am I supposed to win Saturday's tournament if I don't have both my gloves?"

Lino spoke again, "Frankie, that's enough! Now how do you know Lenny took your glove?"

It took Frankie a few seconds to think of an answer, after all he didn't actually see Lenny steal his glove, he just loved to blame him for everything. "Because he's always taking my things!"

"That's not true, I've never taken any of your…"

"Shut up ya little spazz!"

At this point, Kathleen lost patience. "That's it! Frankie, go to your room now!"

Frankie left the office muttering rudely under his breath.

"Lino," Kathleen said before following him, "Could you make sure Lenny's alright?"

"Sure," Lino replied.

"Thanks," And with that Kathleen left the room to give Frankie his punishment. Lino turned to Lenny, "You alright, Kiddo?"

Lenny nodded, but still looked unhappy, "I swear I didn't take his dumb boxing glove. Every time he loses something, he blames me for taking it."

Lino placed his fin on Lenny's shoulder, "I know ya didn't do it, Son. And if he ever blames you for somethin' you didn't do, you come and tell me, okay?"

"Okay, as long as he hasn't killed me first."

Lino laughed, "I love ya, Kiddo." Lenny smiled knowing that his dad would always be his best friend. However neither of them guessed that in very little time, their friendship would be on the rocks.

(And just so we're clear, Frankie found his boxing glove under his bed that night)

X--X

_(STILL ten years ago)_

It was now a little more than a month after Frankie's boxing glove had disappeared. It was another great day; in fact it was the perfect day for young sharks to be killin' and eatin' somethin' (as Don Lino had put it). Lino had sent his sons outside a few hours earlier to find something for them to eat. He looked out his office window to see how they were doing. First he looked at Frankie, who was trying to get a frightened crab out of its shell with his teeth. Yep, he was without a doubt the perfect killing machine. Then Lino looked over to Lenny, who was just a few yards away from his brother. At first Lino couldn't help but smile at the sight of his little boy, but his smile vanished when he saw what Lenny was eating…kelp.

_What is he doing?_ Lino thought to himself, _Sharks aren't supposed to eat kelp, even if that shark is my son. _Without wasting another second, he swam out of his office and outside to see why his son was eating kelp. He swam right up behind Lenny and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi, Dad," Lenny said when he turned around to see who it was, but he was also surprised to see how upset his dad looked…with him.

"Lenny, what are you eating?" Lino asked in a harsh voice that was most unfamiliar to Lenny.

"Oh, I'm eating kelp. You wanna try some? It's really…" Before Lenny could say 'good', Lino interrupted.

"Lenny, you're a shark you shouldn't eat kelp. Now spit it out and go inside!"

"But…"

"NOW!"

Lenny did as he was told and went inside wondering what had come over his dad. Why was he mad at him for eating a piece of kelp? Maybe he was just having a bad day. Yeah, maybe Luca was getting on his nerves again, or Don Feinberg probably sang to him. Maybe everything would be back to normal by tomorrow.

Or not. The next day at the dinner table everyone was quiet except Frankie, who was devouring a large slice of anchovy pizza, which made Lenny feel sick. His own brother was eating a bunch of poor, innocent fish. Lino noticed Lenny's wierd facial expressions and lost patience.

"Lenny, you have to realize that it's in a shark's blood to kill and eat."

"But Dad, it's just not right to watch those poor fish suffer like that!" Lenny said.

Lino rose up out of his seat. "Lenny, if you were any son of mine you wouldn't care about stupid, little fish getting what they deserve!"

"LINO!" Kathleen was now really upset. "HOW COULD YOU TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT?'

Before anyone could say another word, Lenny got out of his chair and swam out of the Dining Room.

Lino sat back down looking very upset. Kathleen was at least ten times as upset, but not with Lenny.

"Well THAT was maturely handled!" she said sarcastically to her husband.

"Kathleen, calm down. He's just a kid, he'll outgrow this whole thing in a couple of…"

"I didn't mean him Lino!" Kathleen snapped at him. Without saying another word, she left the room leaving Lino and Frankie alone.

Kathleen approached Lenny's bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Lenny?"

A small voice called back from the other side of the door. "Come in." Kathleen opened the door and saw Lenny sitting on his bed and looking as if he was about to cry.

"Why is Dad acting like this?" he asked his mother. "All I did was eat a little piece of kelp, I didn't hurt anybody."

Kathleen sighed, "Lenny, I'm sure he didn't mean what he said."

"Yes he did, Mom. I don't understand, a few days ago he was my best friend and now he hates me just 'cause I like kelp."

Kathleen sat down next to him. "Don't say that, Lenny. You're his son, he loves you."

Lenny turned his head away from her, "I just want to be alone", he told her.

Kathleen smiled at him, kissed his face, and got up to leave, "Just give him time, I promise everything will be back to normal soon. Good night, Sweetie." And she left Lenny alone in his room. Once she was gone, Lenny laid his head on his pillow and fell asleep hoping she was right.

_(One week ago)_

Yesterday, Frankie had been showing Lenny how to kill a fish (a.k.a. Oscar) when a giant boat anchor had fallen on top of him, and killed him. Lenny, feeling ashamed of himself, had swum away. Today was the day of Frankie's funeral. Lenny felt terrible. His older brother was dead because of him. If he wouldn't have been so different from his family, Frankie wouldn't be dead. He looked into a large window, and saw all Lino's mob employees raising their glasses and toasting to Frankie. Then he looked over to his father sitting in a large armchair with Luca, his right-hand-man, by his side.

"We gotta find 'im," he heard Lino say.

Luca tried to make him feel better and assured everything would be alright.

"What's wrong with that kid?" Lino asked. "Why's he gotta be so different? Frankie. God, rest his soul. He was perfect…perfect."

Hearing this brought a small tear to Lenny's eye. His own dad thought he was inferior. He couldn't take this anymore, he swam away as fast as he could and didn't stop until he reached the same deserted field where Frankie had been killed by the anchor. Within minutes, Lenny found a large boulder and hid behind it. He sat down on the ground and rested his back against the boulder.

_"Mom was wrong", _he thought to himself, _"Pop'll never love me for who I am". _

It was decided, Lenny could never go home again. He would have to spend the rest of his life running away. He would miss his mom a lot, and he would probably never find a place to live, but at least he'd be free to be himself. Oh how he wished he could go back to when he was nine, back to when his dad would hug and comfort him when he was sad, and back to before he became…different. The young shark buried his face in his fins and started to cry.

"I'm sorry, Pop," he said out loud.

Lenny was now officially all alone in the world, with no friends to cheer him up, no family to protect him, and no home for him to go to. All he had in the entire world was himself.

X--X

_(Present)_

Lino couldn't believe what he had done. For the past ten years he had been a huge jerk to his own son just because he refused to eat fish. So many questions began racing in his mind. So what if meats made Lenny feel nauseous? So what if he cared about how fish felt? And so what if he dresses like a dolphin ONE time (earlier that same day)? He was still his son no matter who he chose to be, and it just took a little fish to teach him that (LOL). Lenny gave Lino a very small smile, the kind of smile a three-year-old kid gives his parents if he wants a piece of candy.

And Lino thought to himself, "_What kind of parent am I? How could I not love that adorable face?" _He knew exactly how he would make it up to Lenny.

"Will ya get me outta' this," he said to Oscar, "so I can hug my kid, and tell 'im I'm sorry?"

Lenny's smile increased ten fold. He was so overjoyed that all he could say to Lino was "Pop."

Both sharks remained silent until Oscar pressed the button that let them out of the whale washing equipment. Once both of them were free Lino, for the first time in ten long years, gave his only living son a loving smile. "Come here, you", he said cheerfully. Lenny swam slowly up to Lino, and father and son embraced each other tightly.

Lino spoke to the younger shark with a small touch of sadness in his voice. "I love you, son, no matter what you eat or how you dress." Lenny lovingly nuzzled his father's muscular shoulder.

"I love you too, Pop."

They remained this way for several minutes until Oscar interrupted, asking Lino if the sharks and the fish could finally live in peace (very stupidly I might add). Lino agreed and Lenny couldn't have been happier. Seconds later, while Oscar was being interviewed by Katie Current from the News Media, Lino looked down at Lenny.

"So do ya forgive me, Kiddo?"

Lenny just smiled, "'Course I do, Pop. I love you."

Lino nuzzled Lenny's head, "That's my boy."

Lenny happily nuzzled Lino's shoulder. Finally, everything was back to how it used to be. All the drama from the past ten years just didn't matter anymore; Lino and Lenny were once again inseparable friends and it would always be that way.

_The End._


End file.
